stranger(s) in a strange land
Coined from the famous science fiction novel by Robert Heinlein, have we in fact become strangers in a strange land? Foreigners to our own natural environment? While Heinlein’s novel does not discuss this theme, I believe this phrase is relevant to the current fracture between society and nature. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes about this problem in his Forward of “This Fine Piece of Water.”
If we succeed in divorcing ourselves completely from nature, we will become a rootless people, strangers in our own country, separated from our sources of values and identity. At that point, we may begin to question our humanity
More and more I’m beginning to see that this is what has been happening. People are losing touch with nature, and in some cases, having no concept of their place in it.
My parents both work for the City of White Plains, public works. A woman who had just moved from Manhattan called up one day to complain that there was a squirrel in her yard and she wanted the city to do something about it. She said her grandchildren were coming over and she did not know what the squirrel was going to do. I know this is an extreme example, but I thought it pertinent. This woman believes, as many who live in large metropolitan areas do, that nature should bow down to them. What they are failing to grasp is that we are living in a natural environment that should be respected, and in some cases feared. We need to reclaim our natural history!
Yes, you should have a good laugh about the squirrel lady, but you should also be deeply disturbed. Many inner city kids do not have the opportunity to move beyond the twenty plus city blocks they grew up in. If you have grown up divorced from nature then there is little reason to believe you will have any kind of concept of your place within it. What are we if not a product of our environment? Kids should be given frequent opportunities to experience nature and open space, a rare concept in new york city. School curriculum might be a good place to start.
Experiential learning is important. A great organization that I will be working for which emphasizes this type of learning is SoundWaters, whose goal is to “protect the long island sound through education.” I will be working as an environmental science educator and deckhand aboard their schooner. SoundWaters offers day sail programs to local Connecticut schools as a way to teach students about the sound and connect them with nature through experiential learning. This type of learning is one great way to reconnect young people with nature, and to instill responsibility towards preserving it.
If more programs like this could be monetarily available to kids, or even people of all ages, I think it would a step in the right direction. We if not already, are becoming strangers in a strange land; losing our identities to a deteriorating natural environment. Reclaim it!
local apparent noon
Often understandably confused with Semester at Sea, SEA Semester is a program I participated in last January. I spent six weeks in Woods Hole, MA taking classes, and six weeks sailing aboard a 134 ft steel brigantine sailing vessel. I recently realized that around this time last year I was in Woods Hole studying…and freezing.
I was responsible for three classes: nautical science, oceanography, and maritime studies. Nautical science is both unbelievably frustrating and surprisingly satisfying. It was interesting to learn how difficult it was to navigate without modern day GPS, or even the capability to determine one’s longitude. Many sailors relied heavily upon local apparent noon, or LAN, to determine their line of latitude. Local apparent noon is the time of day when the sun is at its highest altitude, and is measured with a sextant. The angle measured is called Ha. The Ha angle is then used in a series of sight reduction calculations and you are given an Ho angle. This angle is later plugged into a formula used to determine zenith distance, one of the two components needed to determine latitude. Zenith distance is calculated through the formula 90-Ho=ZD, and is a measure of our angular distance from the sun. The other component needed to determine latitude is the sun’s declination. Declination is determined through an almanac. The formula for latitude can now be determined by drawing a simple diagram:
Latitude formula diagrams from Carl Chase's text, "An Introduction to Nautical Science"
As you can tell by the diagrams the formula changes based on the season, and has a total of three possibilities:
Latitude= zenith distance + declination
Latitude= zenith distance – declination
Latitude= declination – zenith distance
And this is just the beginning! There are many other lines of position (LOP) that can be determined. The LOP determined through LAN is only one of the many ways to figure out your location. LOPs can be determine at any time using the sun as well as the stars. The trouble is getting a fix (fixed location). Fascinating!
dom staff salsa dances
A little light-hearted fun. An intern at DOM edited this video of most of the DOM staff salsa dancing during our monthly First Friday event. This is from the November 7th FF with Unleashed Dance Studios. I vote that we have more dance parties in the future.
prop 8 protest in denver
I haven’t blogged in a long time, so I’m trying to get back into it. On that note, I’ve posted some footage I shot and edited during the Prop 8 Protest held in Denver on 15 November 2008. It’s a two minute long sound byte of the event. In the future I want to create a longer piece, possibly including other LGBTQ issues.
michael moore in denver
I’m interning at Denver Open Media (Denver’s public access television station), and the Station Manager Ann shot this awesome footage of Michael Moore speaking at a Health Care Rally in Denver on June 24th, 2007. Check it out.
spring term 2006 work
This is a three-part series I completed for my Intro to Electronic Media Art Design [EMAD] class this past Spring. I worked solely through photoshop. Originally the images were projected onto a screen as a slideshow. If anyone has any feedback, comments, or even reactions to any or all pieces in the series feel free to post it.
video conferencing – the global classroom
Big things are happening in the White Plains School District system in White Plains, New York. Just this morning I sat in a summer school classroom at Eastview Middle School, and watched kids faces wide with excitement as the woman video conferencing in from Mote Marine Labratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, FL took them inside the shark tanks during feeding time.
Many teachers in the White Plains School District have been using video conferencing as a supplemental teaching tool. My former AP American History teacher Susan Altman, set up an international poetry slam with White Plains High School, a high school in Texas, and Russia. The students were able to both share and receive feedback on their poetry from a diverse source of viewpoints. Video conferencing is truly becoming the motivating tool for the idea of the Global Classroom. An educational environment that lets young adults learn not only in their own classrooms, but in classrooms and facilities worldwide as well.
I’m planning on helping to implement video conferencing technology at DU when I return in January. I’m currently working with Caroline Starbird, head of the Center for Teaching International Relations (CTIR) to get the ball rolling. Besides implementing it in departments throughout the DU campus I want to try and integrate it in the Middle Schools and High Schools in the Denver area, and connect them with White Plains Schools. Furthermore Ms. Altman and I are planning on connecting our World Affairs Awareness Club with her Human Rights Club in a discussion based forum, as well as coordinating events such as the Hunger Banquet.
There are no limits or boundaries. Video conferencing technology is a powerful unifier, and I’m both excited and curious to see where and how it evolves.
the global run
I’ve been in White Plains a little over two weeks, and things are okay. I miss being at school with my friends, especially since we’re all going abroad in the fall, some of us for the whole year. I’m interning learning about video conferencing with my old middle school art teacher, Mrs. Kennedy. So at least that’s something keeping me busy. It’s very interesting and I am excited to visit the U.N. with her tomorrow. She has a contact with the head of an NGO affiliated with the U.N. so it should be a great tour.
Mrs. Kennedy is a founder of an organization called The Global Run. It’s function is similar to that of the well-known Global Nomads, in that it focuses on connecting kids all over the world. She uses video conferencing technology as the major form of communication with these countries, and takes a select group of students from the middle school to participate in these conferences. Each year the students are given a school in another country to help. This year they helped a village in Kenya obtain water tanks to collect rainwater, which now serves as the villages main water source.
It’s a really great program that she’s trying to expand all over the world for the following year. Right now we’re working on editing The Global Run movie that she’s going to present at a conference. Eastview Middle School in White Plains has been the pilot for this organization for the last six years. What Mrs. Kennedy is trying to do next year is to expand it all over the world. The idea is that every school that wants to participate will be given funding for video conferencing technology, will get to choose any school in the world they wish to aid, and raise money for that school for a specific cause.
I’m really excited to be affilated with The Global Run, and hope to expand it out west.
